Friday Distro: KaOS Linux

in linux on 2014-07-26 00:46 (#3RT)

This Friday's distro is KaOS Linux, and the K stands for KDE. But this isn't just a "lean KDE distro," as is their motto: the focus is quite a bit better defined even than that:

The idea behind KaOS is to create a tightly integrated rolling and transparent distribution for the modern desktop, built from scratch with a very specific focus.
Focus on one DE (KDE), one toolkit (Qt), one architecture (x86_64) plus a focus on evaluating and selecting the most suitable tools and applications. ... It targets users who have tried many Operating Systems/Distributions/Desktop Environments and have found they prefer a Distribution that uses all its available resources to work on one DE to make that the best it can be, and know that after their searches, the best for them is KDE.

The KaOS Linux website was my first reference point for familiarizing myself with this distro, but we're lucky in that it's recently gotten quite a bit of press, too. ZDNet looked at it and called it "solid and focused: The reviewer wasn't thrilled with the installer but found it a reasonable package selections (that even transcends the "QT only" philosophy by also providing LibreOffice and GIMP). And HecticGeek also gave it a spin, though the site was down as I write this.

For me, the killer decision point is really the choice of the Calligra office suite as primary productivity suite. And the fact that LibreOffice is in the repos tells me that it is still not totally baked as an office suite; too bad because I've always rooted for what was once called Koffice and would love to see it blossom, though it always seems to let me down: font kerning was still a mess the last time I tried it in 2012.

Anyway, the folks behind KaOS admit this distro isn't going to be for everyone. But for people that have tried the other options and decided on KDE, this is a distro that promises you that all its effort has gone into ensuring this KDE-centric distro gives you a great experience. I'm looking forward to giving it a whirl.

Love it (Score: 4, Interesting)

by kwerle@pipedot.org on 2014-07-26 05:40 (#2NJ)

I love distro Fridays. Don't have much to say about the article subject matter, but it is well written.

Re: Love it (Score: 1)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-07-26 13:25 (#2NM)

Thanks for the thumbs up! I think once per week is about right - any more would be too much. I'm having fun discovering the new distros, anyway. If I find a little more free time I'll make an effort to install them in VMs to give them a spin first. Darned day job keeps getting in my way!

Re: Love it (Score: 1)

by reziac@pipedot.org on 2014-07-30 21:23 (#2QC)

Same here. I've been eternally frustrated with Linux, 16 years and still vainly hoping to find one I can live with for everyday... the more new distros I hear about, the more prospects for next time I run a bunch of test installs. And yep, one a week is about enough to cogitate about. If at some point this comes with a thorough in-house review, well, that'll be a bonus!

PS. In things to fix, the RSS feed articles lack a link back to this site.

Looks good (Score: 2, Insightful)

by renevith@pipedot.org on 2014-07-28 19:02 (#2PA)

Well, I love KDE, and have a 64-bit machine and no strong connection to my current distro, Kubuntu. Next time I get the itch (or something breaks), I think this will be the one I go to!

Thanks for posting it. The two reviews were good links, covering different aspects of the experience.

KDE 4 Lyfe (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2014-07-30 16:25 (#2Q7)

I kind of love that Pipedot is slowly becoming a KDE fanboi site.

;)

Re: KDE 4 Lyfe (Score: 1)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-07-31 02:15 (#2QM)

That's probably my influence and I do prefer KDE to Gnome. If we get some Gnome fanbois to post articles we can duke it out.But my first choice remains Windowmaker!Gnomeheads: the submit button is at the upper right :)